Aerial Bases

[Duritz]

Think of it, bases floating in midair, or maybe on huge pillars kept taut by the rotaion of the planet. This way, you would be required to be proficient in every aspect of the game to be able to achieve continental locks.

Maybe it could be connected to sets of teleporters on the ground in special towers that connect to all sorts of parts of the base. This way you CAN attack from the ground and noobs would be able to at least get there without a ride.

Next, you could add more air vehicles more easily by only allowing them to be produced far above the planet, therefore it would keep the attention of the air superiority jets away from reavers down on the ground and would add more use to having new, smaller, faster dropships and other ideas for air vehicles. Maybe that idea would spark some interesting discussion.

[�io]

That's a prety good idea for patch/expansion.

[Kyonye]

Too much for a patch, good for expansion. it would total air war. thats a pretty cool idea

[�io]

Meh, with today's net a patch can easily be a few 100megs + which allows for a lot of stuff to be added. :)

[Kyonye]

actually that is true. no point though if its going to take 5 hours to download. expansion disc is alot more accesible.

[Flameseeker]

Good idea. I was thinking a hovering platform, with little pods that were on the ground. The pods could be sniped out of, but you wouldn't get a good shot cause they were moving. When the base is neutral/out of power, the pods become inactive. This makes HART or a Galaxy the only way there. When it's empire controlled, only that empire can use the pods. Maybe they could be hacked, but while you were hacking a defender could pod down and shoot you. A hacked pod would be instantly camped though. Needs balance, anyone care to add some?

[ABRAXAAS]

sounds to much like tribes stuff to me :(

[Duritz]

Well, i really wouldn't expect it as a patch mostly becasue they are 56k friendly. Plus, if they are gonna put that much work into it it would have to be an expansion or it might not be worth it.

Of course, that kind of dedication may attract more customers, so........

[Derfud]

Maybe there would be another "coninent", or area, wich was actually alot of very small islands, and over the water would be the floating bases.

[Raganork]

That's a good idea, and maybe they could add gunships and little motor boats and ferrys that can't go in deep water so they have to stay in the shallow waters surronding the islands

[Duritz]

Well, I was kinda thinking also of placing them directly above Tech Centers. That'd be awesome! Imagine what kinda battles would go on between the air forces from above and the infantry from below.

But really they would work nearly anywhere. Especially near tech centers and dropship centers because of their base in aerial vehicles already. Another thing that it would add would be having to have an insanely high flight ceiling. I'm talking bases kms up and then a good distance above that for flight room around bases.

I think the most interesting part about the idea is not the vehicles, but the extra dimension in which you have to attack and defend. Commanders with a true understanding of aerial combat tactics would be legendary and new commanders could definitely get their challenges in. The amounts of strategic possibilties with an MMO like this can be endless.

[Derfud]

OMG i'd love to jump off! :p

[TheGreatCarbini]

I don't know if would work. It sounds kool but this game already has plenty of things to fight in and capture, i think floating platforms would just cheapen the game and make it a crazy ""battle everywhere for no reason" game. That's why they didnt put in naval stuff to start i assume. It seems kool but i think the game would just get to awkward with something like this.

[Ludio]

This is an interesting concept, but I think that it may shift the focus too far away from ground combat. If they were going to add more base types I would rather see large scale above ground bases (cities) so that we could have some urban combat.

[Warborn]

Originally posted by Dio
Meh, with today's net a patch can easily be a few 100megs + which allows for a lot of stuff to be added. :)

Not if you want anyone to download it within a week's time.

[HotDogTommy]

with aerial bases you'd be eliminating everyone who doesn't have a flying cert from the battle.

[MrVulcan]

OHHH!!! I would love to take and drop tanks on the people below!!!! How cool is that!
ahhh, so your tiring to hack it eh.... well here, have a tank
*shove tank off side*

......................
...........................*3 days later*..........
...........

*Splat!!!*
What killed me????

hahahaha

oh ya, life is good...

But what if......

I wonder if you can drop vechs out of a galaxy at VERY high up, so it could be like a high altitude bomber??? Now that would be a great way to hurt the base defenders!!! Stand together.. i dare ya!!! And have a dude ride in the gun on the way down!!! Shooting and falling on them!!! Oh Ya!!! VALID CRAZY IDEA!!! LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

-MrVulcan - Commander General - Freedom Corp
--Join us!! For Freedom! For Victory! Charge!!!
---http://connect.to/freedomcorp
--Email me with any questions/comments/etc at:
[email protected]

[NeoTassadar]

You can bail from aircraft at any time, so why not?

[Unknown]

I doubt they'd add anything along these lines, but it does sound neat. Something slightly similar they've talked about is orbital platforms. It's even in the description (http://planetside.station.sony.com/faq.jsp#planetsidebasics) of the game. It's one of the things they were going to add but won't due to timeframe limitations. I'd bet that will be one of the first things we see added in updates/expansions.

[MrVulcan]

actually, I think that they did put it in game, the orbital space platform i think it is talking about is the pod system... Though Other than lower parts of a base, i dont know what the underground part is.... perhaps there are some tunnels from 1 base to another, etc? hmmm.....

"warp gates, human-constructed buildings, underground labyrinths and orbital space platforms."

[Duritz]

Well, I addressed the issues of noob accessibility, and also, i think that aerial battle are going to happen anyway. However, I believe that most pilots would like something to fight over.

True airspace is an important resource inthis game, but for what? The only you really aquire with airspace is the ability to move Galaxies safer and the ability to scout better. Both of these actions can be performed by ground troops and you can easily take bases without requiring air support. It helps, but it is not neccesary. However, having infantry IS necessay, as are ground vehicles.

This would simply be adding another level of play for pilots and air commanders wanting more interesting challenges. I, personally don't plan on spending most of my time as a pilot, but I would like to see the air role deveop more. I see this as an opening for easier implemenation of new air vehicles and more areas of play.

[MrVulcan]

I think that Air has a very big role. Aire strikes are very powerful, and can not be countered without yourown air power, or a few good rocket soldiers. I think that it will be esp impt vs NC, since NC has many shotgun type weapons, so the NC will have to have an airforce if just to counter that weakness, since other than the rocket, they have no real good long range anti aircraft weapons....
I see air as being a very valuable asset in any battle.

But then again I havent used any of the crafts in PS, so I cant tell you for sure lol =P

[Sigurd]

It would be cool dependign on the number of aerial vehicles that you can have on a continent. If you dont have enough it would steal to many air assets from the ground forces and that would suck nuts. It would shift the focus of the game to much away from taking ground and holding bases to, lets raid an airbase that doesnt do much other than act as a resupply and jump off point.

[Duritz]

MrVulcan, I agree with you, air can have a big role in the game now, it helps considerably when attacking bases. However, it only HELPS; you could easily have this game work exactly like it is without any air assets at all. You could not do that with ground vehicles or infantry. AMSes, APCs, and infantry are critical to this game in the format that it is in. You also can win battles with nearly the same amount of effort and NO aerial vehicles, but not so with ground forces. What I'm proposing is simply a way to make air units a more integral and required part of the game. I never said that air units were useless, just that they don't play a large enough role to make them required.

I am certain that the devs have already come up with something to add to the game later on, and becasue they are one of the most community oriented dev teams I've seen, I believe that they are looking into what the players want. Now, I do not think that this is one of their suggesions, but I do think that their ideas definitely involve aerial combat in one form or another because the community so far has been looking for a new plane of soem type. I just thought that this idea might open up some new possibilities for dimensions of play and possiby easier integration of new air units.

Sigurd, the devs have told us that there will be absolutely no limit on the number of vehicles. Except that only the number of players that are online can have a vehicle.

Also, you seem to have misinterpreted the aerial bases as air towers. The air towers are already in game, this idea is something totally of topic from reality.

I don't want anyone to think that I'm fanatic about this, I just have to respond to things that bug me. In detail, of course.

[Sigurd]

well if its unlimited vehicles, than id say your idea has some potential :D

[MrVulcan]

Duritz, were on the same line of thought =) :rock:

[Arshune]

I had a thought that sort of ties into this...ya know how there was talk that they may be adding in naval battles? Well why don't they just add aerial capital ships? Think about the wealth of strategic options it offers, aerial bombardment, ship-to-ship combat, huge dogfights...and not to mention it would probably lighten the devs' load since they already have a physics model for flight programmed and I'm sure putting things on the water would be a lot harder that programming that same thing to fly in the air. They could make the flying carriers like an AMS in the air with an air unit pad, and they could also have a big battleship too. Goes without saying that it'd have a TON of balancing involved with it, but that sounds like it'd fit in quite well with the futuristic theme to me. I could see it now, a sleek aerial carrier ship cuts through a layer of clouds and emerges on top of an enemy base...then releases a swarm of mosquitoes and reavers out into the airspace around it. It'd be so sweet, I tell ya. SO SWEET!

[Tobias]

The orbital platforms are not in the game for now.

[Arshune]

Speaking of aerial/orbital platforms, that brings something up...since they don't have parachutes in this game, that means there's no fall damage, right? I remember them justifying it with something like "kinetic dampers" or whatnot. That'd be a little disappointing, I always thought the funniest thing in BF1942 was when it first came out and no one knew how to deploy their parachute...heh.

[Valius]

I really don't think Airiel Fortresses would be needed to give air units meaning. I mean, they don't have them in real life and air power is still important. Infantry fights the wars and holds the territory, armor and air units gives them an edge against other infantry. Eventually these units evolved to a stand on their own, but infantry, in some form, will always be the backbone of any military force. You learn this kinda stuff when you're the son of a tanker :D But air platforms do sound cool, maybe the could add in some mecha later.

[Duritz]

I mean, they don't have them in real life and air power is still important.

This is true, to a point, however, the type of air vehicles today are a very small percentage of the main force of the most used planes. Unless you are not speaking about fixed wing planes, air superiority jets and bombers are the planes most widely use. Fixed wing wise, A-10s are Reavers, small fast planes are Mosquitos, and cargo planes are Galaxies. They all are widely used but not the most efficient, most publicized, and therefore probably not what you are talking about.

Also, Arshune, there is fall damage from any height UNLESS you are bailing out of a vehicle, as far as I have been able to understand.

[Arshune]

SJ said that if you bail from a vehicle at too low an altitude you get squashed...he didn't mention anything about falling off of stuff though. I guess they'll probably cover that at some point before release.